Just Breathe
by feeling the fall
Summary: Jessica and Emmett. Random, I know, but I had to write it.
1. Chapter 1

don't own..blah, blah, blah.

a/n: Yeah, so I just randomly wrote this and think it will be a one-shot...I guess. Please review!!!

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Jessica Stanley watched as Emmett Cullen silently walked away from the lunch table. He was angry; that much was visible. His girlfriend, Rosalie, sat there looking after him with a cold impatience. Apparently, she wasn't that into his style of relationship.

Inwardly, Jessica sighed. Emmett Cullen was wonderful and why someone wouldn't want to be with him was beyond her imagining. She'd had a huge crush on him since last year when he'd saved her from social and personal suicide. She was depressed after being dumped and was ready to lose herself in the next readily available male. Which meant her virginity would be lost on some no name loser that happened to have been in the right place at the right time.

Luckily, Emmett Cullen had been the next man to fit that description. He'd taken one look at her and with a sigh, had driven her home. She didn't know that such a physically strong person was capable of such compassion. It had shocked her and she still found herself marveling at him daily. Of course, this was done in private; so, she was careful never to let people know that the she could possibly be interested in a Cullen. The family that kept to themselves so tightly, it was practically a well known rule: the Cullens don't mingle. Adore them from afar and move on.

Today though, she found herself unable to ignore her body calling her to follow him. She made her excuses and followed him out of the lunch room. Her assumption had been that he would wander off into the forest that surrounded the school, but to her surprise, she found him sitting in his jeep looking at a comic book.

"Hey, Emmett." She called to him softly. It was quiet and she almost hated to disturb the peace. He looked up at her with a grin.

"What is a pretty girl like you doing out in the rain?" Emmett's smile practically took her breath away. She tried to smile in return and quickly had to remind herself to breath and not act like an idiot.

"Well, here in Forks, this is merely a drizzle, if even that." It was true. It rained so much here that she didn't consider the light sprinkles an inconvenience.

He shook his head a little. "I've noticed that. I've gotten to like the rain myself. But most girls worry about what it will do to their hair or makeup." He gave her another heartstopping grin. "You look perfect…maybe a little limp around the edges, but nicely put together."

Jessica cocked her head a little and crinkled her eyebrow. She was trying to decide if that was a compliment or if he was just messing with her. She always felt so young around him. He looked like he was at least in his 20's.

"Thanks, I guess?" She said it as a question.

"You're welcome, I guess." he replied, causing Jessica to laugh. It seemed loud in the stillness, and a bird stirred in a tree. "You're stirring up the wildlife, Jessica." She stopped laughing and stared at him with a small smile. She liked the way he said her name. She'd read about women feeling that way in romance novels and assumed it was a fictional invention, but it wasn't. She enjoyed hearing him say her name. Maybe it was his intonation or his voice, but there was something about it that sent a little jolt of electricity through her body.

"I have a bad habit of doing that, whipping the wildlife into a frenzy." She said stupidly for lack of anything else to say. She was still a little dazed by him.

"I know." He said and laughed a little to himself like he'd made a private joke. "So, why'd you follow me?" He patted the passenger seat as an indication for her to hop in next to him. She accepted and jumped in. She took a moment to arrange herself in the seat and to also get her thoughts together.

"I don't really know." She didn't look him in the eye because that was a lie. He seemed to know it because he caught a strand of her brown hair and tugged it gently to turn her head in his direction.

"I don't believe that. Why?" He pressed again and still held her hair in between his fingers. He was rubbing it between them gently almost as if he was fascinated by the texture.

She closed her eyes in an effort to concentrate. "You looked sad." She blurted it out quickly and his hand ceased its motion. A second later, he dropped her hair entirely and got out of the car. She took a deep breath and felt panic begin inside of her. She must have offended him. She turned her body to get out of the jeep to follow him, but before she could, he was opening her door. He stood there, blocking her way out of the jeep. She looked at him. With her sitting, and him standing, she could clearly look directly into his eyes. They were the color of aged whiskey, brown with a soft iridescence. He looked at her intently. When he didn't speak, she had to break the silence.

"I'm sorry, if what I said offended you. I was just trying to be thoughtful. Obviously, I'm not as good at reading you as I thought…" She trailed off as he took a very deep breath, then leaned in close to her. She thought he was going to kiss her, but before he reached her mouth, he turned his head to the side of her face and bent his nose to the crick of her neck. Again, he took a ridiculously deep breath. She could feel his lips resting ever so gently on her skin. Her heartbeat went into overdrive. Him being this close and with his lips on her skin, was making her feel more alive that she'd ever been before. Not even the most passionate kisses from other boys had aroused her this much. She desperately wanted him to kiss her, but after a long minute, he slowly moved his head so that his lips were touching her ear.

"Thank you." He said quietly, then took another one of his long deep breaths before he moved from her and stood away from the jeep. She gulped and blinked slightly to regain her focus, then she slowly got out of the jeep before walking back into the school, trying to remind herself to breathe.

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So, please REVIEW!!!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So, I wasn't going to bother with this anymore. I lost my inspiration; however, after reading some reviews for it and drinking a few glasses of Orange soda spiked with whip cream vodka, this came out. I hope you like it. PLEASE review it. I love the thought of this couple. Apparently, I am the only one shipping them, which to me is unfortunate. Bella gets on my nerves. Just to share….and Don't Own.

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It had been three weeks since the "jeep incident" as Jessica liked to remember it. She tried not to remember how it had felt to have Emmett so close to her body or the way his scent had invaded her mind and taken her over, leaving her dying for me. She still watched him everyday. It was like some sort of sweet torture or slow death. She didn't know which…

"Jess, you've been staring at the Cullen's an awful lot lately." Angela teased. Jessica tensed and laughed nervously.

"Yeah. I'm staring because it's like some alien has taken over Bella's body. She spends every lunch with them." She covered her sadness in a quick smile. Jessica was definitely a good actor. She wasn't like Bella, letting all her emotions hang out. She knew that love was more than just simple look or something that you sensed was right with a person, but she couldn't stop herself from loving Emmett. Loving Emmett didn't make sense. It would only bring her heartache and pain. Her mind knew one thing, while her heart knew another.

This was probably the one time in her life when she identified with Bella. Bella Swan…a former friend and now something of a nuisance. She was always getting into some sort of trouble. Jessica laughed a little at that thought. After her most recent outing with Bella, she'd decided it had been necessary to enroll in self-defense classes. You could never be too careful…and weird things always happened in Forks. That was undeniable.

So, she sighed gently and smiled at Angela ready to engage her in conversation, but Angela had already turned to talk to Mike who sat across from her. Jessica engaged in the conversation for a while, but it wasn't long before she looked over at the Cullen's, only this time she was being watched in return. Not by Emmett, that wouldn't bother her; it would do the opposite and excite her. No, she was being watched by Alice, the waif, fairy like Cullen. Alice stared at her with a slightly puzzled expression. Jessica just stared back for a moment before flashing a brilliant smile at her. Alice's frown deepened and she looked over toward Emmett and gave him a puzzled frown too. Alice stared at him for a moment before shaking her head and looking back toward Jessica quickly. Suddenly, the lunch bell rang. Time to learn more…

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Jessica liked to walk along the beach. There were always tourists milling around, looking out at the ocean in search of beautiful shells. But today, she found herself drawn in a different direction. The forest seemed to beckon her closer and draw her toward it. She wasn't sure why, because she didn't like the darkness that sometimes overwhelmed her in the dense shrubbery.

Still she slowly walked through the trees, guided by a well-worn path. She heard a rustling next to her and turned in search of it's source. She didn't see anything, but there was a little bit of wind today. It was probably just sifting through the trees, making them rustle. She shivered a little as an unexpected chill raced down her spine. She didn't feel like she was alone in the woods anymore, and that made her nervous. She turned to leave the forest, but found she wasn't alone. She let out a little yelp of surprise when she saw Emmett standing there. A small smile played around the edges of his mouth.

"Sorry I scared you." He said and didn't sound sorry at all.

"Right. Are you always so quiet? Or only when your sneaking up on people?" Jessica snapped as she concentrated on calming her racing heart. She wasn't sure if it was because it was Emmett or because she'd just had a shock, but she had to take a deep breath to try and calm herself down.

"These woods aren't safe." Emmett said and the grin fell from his face. He looked so serious that Jessica immediately wanted to grab him and hug him…or kiss him - anything to bring his smile back.

"I've been coming here since I was a kid. Besides, I've been taking self defense classes." She said proudly with a grin. Emmett couldn't help the answering smile that split his face.

"Self-defense?" He moved in close to her, she could smell that odd scent that always surrounded Emmett.

"Yes. A girl can never be too careful."

"I agree." He moved a little, slowing circling her. Jessica turned her head to follow him. "Care to show me some of those crazy self defense skills?" He was mocking her, she could tell that by his tone, but she wasn't kidding; she was the best student in the class and she felt a perverse sense of justice in knowing that she could kick most criminal butt or at least hurt them enough to make an escape.

"I wouldn't want to hurt you." Jessica told him, trying to keep a serious expression on her face. He laughed out loud and she pretended to be offended. "Well, don't say that I didn't warn you."

She turned to face him full on and the smile he was offering her now bordered on predatory. She felt a stirring in her body that had nothing to do with nerves. She was beginning to have second thoughts and then he reached out and grabbed her. She knew that he was strong, he had a ridiculous body, but she was shocked at how soft his touch was. She tried to jerk her arm out of his grasp, only to have him pull her and turn her so that her back was pressed to his chest. Oddly, he was cold. Jessica registered that thought a moment before she felt his grip slacken slightly and she jerked her arm out of his grip and turned to face him. It would have worked if she hadn't tripped over his big feet. Instead, she ended up falling and taking Emmett with her. Somehow as she was falling he'd maneuvered it so that he took the brunt of the fall and she landed on him.

For a guilty moment she just lay there. She was enjoying being on top of him and feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest. Then, she braced her armed on his shoulders and pushed herself up.

"I'm sorry. I'm really not a klutz." Jessica looked down at him, focusing on his eyes. In the forest, they looked darker. Not so bright, more sinister. He was staring at her intently. He moved his head a little and she felt his hands shift to rest on her hips.

"It's ok, Jessica. I like the position we're in actually." He smiled a little. "I'm at your mercy this way. You're the big bad predator." His left hand moved around her hip to rest on her lower back, his hand moving in small circles.

"What if I don't have any mercy?" Jessica joked, ignoring his comment about her being the predator. Even in this position, she still felt like she was the prey and he was slowing stalking her.

Her hands involuntarily tightened on his shoulders in response to his hand massaging her back, which was causing her to feel warmth all over her body. More warmth pooling in some areas of her body than others.

"Aww…now I know you do. Despite that tough girl exterior, you're a softy. I can tell." The hand that was still on her hip was moving now too. Or more specifically, his thumb was moving. Up and down, slowly and with every down movement, his thumb moved ever so slightly underneath her jeans. She was flushed, she knew that, but she hoped he wouldn't be able to see in the dark forest.

"I do." She bit her lip and had trouble even remembering what they were talking about.

"Show me, J…show me some mercy." She felt the pressure on her back increase as her pushed her forward slightly. Not needing more encouragement than that she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. She tentatively touched her tongue to his lips and he responded so quickly she could only moan. He shifted her head so that he could kiss her more deeply.

The hand on her back shifted to softly cup her butt. She felt like she was on fire. She'd been kissed before, but nothing like this. Emmett pulled away a little, sucking on her bottom lip as he ended the kiss.

He didn't say anything for a moment, just looked at her with those intense eyes. She swallowed, unable to process anything beyond simple thought. A smile broke across his face and Jessica smiled back, taking her cue from him.

"Well, that was the best mercy I've ever been shown." He reached up to cup her cheek with his hand. Again, Jessica thought it felt cold. But then again, they were outside in the cold forest.

"So much for my self defense classes." Jessica laughed at how easily she'd been defeated.

"You were actually pretty good. I think you'd be able to handle an average mugging." Emmet's compliment thrilled her and her grin grew.

"Thank you very much, Emmett."

"You're welcome very much."

"I should probably get off of you now." Jessica said dumbly. She shifted to get up but his hand on her back stopped her.

"I like you here…with me." Emmett uttered the last part quietly. Jessica licked her lips.

"I like it with you too, Emmett." She grinned and moved to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Good." He said with a satisfied smile and she felt his hand leave her back. She stood up and Emmett followed.


End file.
